Clinton rebuked for drone strikes

October 31, 2009|By Tribune news services

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton faced sharp rebukes from Pakistanis on Friday, including one woman who accused the U.S. of conducting "executions without trial" in aerial drone strikes. Slapping back, Clinton questioned Pakistan's commitment to fighting terrorists.

"Somebody, somewhere in Pakistan must know where these people are," Clinton said in an exchange almost as blunt as her exasperated comments a day earlier that Pakistani officials lacked the will to target al-Qaida.

Her stormy three-day visit, rocked at the start by a terrorist blast in Peshawar that killed 105 Pakistanis, revealed clear signs of strain between the two nations despite months of public insistence that they were in sync in fighting terrorism.